With the advent of guns and firearms much effort has been devoted to their perfection in the art of firing projectiles to hit specified targets. An important factor to consider relating to the firing of a gun is the hit probability of the weapon.
A shotgun increases the hit probability by firing multiple projectiles in a random dispersion. An automatic weapon increases the hit probability by firing a random dispersion of projectiles toward a target, thereby covering a broad area around a target and assuring a greater chance of striking the target.
In 1952 a report for the U.S. Army by the Operations Research Office “Operational Requirements for an Infantry Hand Weapon” analyzed firing a salvo of 5 projectiles in a diamond shaped pattern, and found the concept would greatly increase the hit probability of a weapon. With the “pattern-dispersion principle” each projectile had a predetermined hit point in the dispersion, was separated from the other projectiles, and the diamond shaped salvo efficiently maximized the lethal area, and the hit probability of the dispersion
Although the U.S. Army determined that the “pattern salvo weapon” or “dispersion weapon” would be very effective and recommended that the Ordinance Corp. proceed to develop a pattern salvo weapon for the Infantry, a practical weapon that fired the 5 shot diamond shaped pattern was never developed.